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Corn Oysters
2 cups corn pulp 2 eggs 2 tablespoons flour 2 tablespoons butter or other fat Salt and pepper If fresh corn is used, grate it from the cob with a coarse grater. If canned corn is used, select one of the sieved varieties. Beat the egg-yolks and whites separately and add to the grated corn, with flour and butter or fat, salt and pepper. Drop the batter from a spoon into hot fat and fry light brown. Drain on soft paper. Serve hot.
A simple corn fritter batter held together by beaten eggs rather than much flour. The success of it rests on the corn being pulp, not kernels.
- Corn pulp means scraped, not cutGrating a raw ear on a coarse grater splits the hulls and releases the milky interior, which is what binds the fritter. Whole kernels cut from the cob will not hold together in this quantity of flour. Two cups takes roughly five or six ears.
- Canned "sieved" cornMost likely the cream-style or strained corn of the period rather than whole-kernel. Modern cream-style corn works, but drain off the loosest liquid or the batter will spread in the fat. Frozen corn can be pulsed in a food processor to a coarse puree.
- The butter goes in meltedThe butter goes in the batter -- the two tablespoons of fat is worked into the batter, not used for frying; the frying fat is separate. The recipe does not say melted, but melted and slightly cooled butter is easiest to beat in.
- Whites folded lastThe recipe says to beat yolks and whites separately, then add both. Beat the whites to soft peaks and fold them in at the end; that lift is the only leavening here.
- Frying fat is not specifiedUse about an inch of neutral oil at 360-375F, or a well-greased skillet if you want them flatter and pancake-like. Cook two to three minutes a side, to the light brown the recipe asks for; the egg needs to set through.
- Why "oysters"Drop them in tablespoon-size mounds. The name is usually said to come from the size and pale shape of a fried oyster; larger spoonfuls risk staying underdone in the centre.
- Draining"Soft paper" was unglazed kitchen or butcher paper. Paper towels or a wire rack do the same job; a rack keeps the undersides crisper.
- Yield and servingEnough for four as a vegetable side, depending how large you spoon them. Good with roast chicken or ham, or under a poached egg.